Dome fate remains in question despite listing on National Register

A photo taken from the Astrodome's gondola shows the stadium's baseball field on April 1, 1965.

A photo taken from the Astrodome's gondola shows the stadium's...

The National Park Service has added the Astrodome, the world's first domed stadium, to the National Register of Historic Places, making it eligible for tax breaks to aid in its rehabilitation but offering no real protection from the wrecking ball.

Historical preservationists, who successfully pushed for the Dome's inclusion on the National Register, pledged Friday to continue their battle to save the Houston icon by asking the state to declare it an antiquities landmark - a designation that could limit Harris County's power to alter or demolish the 49-year-old structure without a permit from the Texas Historical Commission.

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett responded through a spokesman that he would "oppose anything that would tie the hands of officials elected by Harris County taxpayers, who own the Dome."

The National Register's decision Thursday to add the Astrodome, which opened in 1965, makes it eligible for inclusion on the state list. The historical commission normally takes six months to rule on such nominations, but once the process starts, a site is protected until a decision is reached. In recent years, said Gregory Smith, the agency's national register coordinator, commissioners annually have granted fewer than six landmark designations to buildings.

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The fate of the Dome, once celebrated as the "Eighth Wonder of the World," has been at issue since the Astros moved to Minute Maid Park in 2000 and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo decamped for Reliant Stadium three years later.

In November, county voters rejected a $217 million bond issue to convert the deteriorating stadium into a convention facility. For months, county and Reliant Park officials had said demolition would be the obvious option if voters rejected the bonds, but they have not committed to do anything with the Dome since the election.

No shortage of ideas

Ideas for redeveloping the Astrodome into a hotel, indoor amusement park, movie studio, business incubator or a museum have been bandied about for years, but none has come with a financing plan acceptable to the Commissioners Court.

In 2013, the National Trust for Historic Preservation included the building on its list of 11 most endangered historic structures.

About $8 million in cleanup work, including asbestos abatement and the removal of exterior stairwells, is underway. In December, County Commissioner El Franco Lee, in whose district the Dome is situated, said he does not think anything needs to be done with the building before the 2017 Super Bowl at Reliant Stadium.

Nominating the Astrodome for the national register were Cynthia Neely, owner of Black Gold Productions, a Houston film company, and Ted Powell, a LaPorte retired chemical engineer who led the fight to save and restore the Hurricane Ike-damaged Sylvan Beach pavilion.

Through the efforts of Friends of Sylvan Beach Park & Pavilion, the 1950s-era building was saved from demolition and restored in a $4.9 million project funded largely by federal hurricane recovery funds.

Neely and Powell confirmed Friday that they plan to push for the protective antiquities landmark designation.

"It changed architecture forever," said Neely, who unsuccessfully had suggested the Dome be repurposed as a film studio. "It was the first-ever building to have this dome not supported by columns. It basically created a whole new style of architecture and made a lot of other famous buildings possible. … It's reprehensible to allow such a valuable asset to just fall apart."

Aid to redevelopment

Inclusion of Dome on the national register may serve as impetus for its redevelopment.

Beth Wiedower, senior field officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, said private entities working to redevelop the building would be eligible for a 20 percent federal tax credit on their investment. Additionally, said Anna Mod, a historic preservation consultant, a developer could be eligible for a 25 percent state franchise tax credit.

While such tax incentives might help induce a developer to take on the project, she cautioned that unlike the Sylvan Beach effort, "no one is going to bring wheelbarrows of money and dump them in your office."